Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
125 years ago
Colfax Commoner
September 9, 1892
_______ _____was brought back from North Dakota for cattle stealing and is now “safely caged” in the county jail. Deputy G N. McLean brought him back. He was arrested because he looked like a badly wanted Texas murderer. The Texas sheriff sent to return him for justice realized he was not the man they wanted. Local authorities in Minot suspected him of some criminal activity and found a reference to Farmington, Washington in his belongings. The authorities telegraphed Marshall Stoops in Farmington who said he was wanted for horse theft. McLean brought him back without incidence.
Grain may yet be moved through pipe lines. Look at the vast quantities of smoking tobacco that has gone that way. Chicago Tribune.
Local manager Gillespie, of the Western Union Telegraph Company is in receipt of information from his Omaha office which says the company is expected to start work Monday on the stringing of a third wire on the line between Walla Walla and Spokane, passing through Colfax, to enable it to properly handle the growing commercial business.
It has been but a short time since the company and the railroad utilized one wire between them for the transmission of their business to and from the Palouse country. The stringing of the third wire now is indicative of the growth of the country and the business it does.
It has been found that through an error in figures the per capita school fund for children is for this year $7.25, instead of $6.20. The increase of $1.05 to each child, or about 17 percent, is much greater than the children of this county have ever had placed to their credit before. The attempt made by those who wish to injure the members of the board, and also to stir up cheap political capital by circulating false reports that the board is one which cuts down the school funds, is an abortive one. This is a tact most patent to all when they observe the result and see the figures. The children each have this year $1.05 more than they had last, or ever before.
100 years ago
Colfax Commoner
Sept 14, 1917
A Ford car dashed over a forty-foot embankment Monday on the Buck Canyon Grade and in its mad flight to the bottom of the canyon it turned over three times. One man in the car stayed with the car until after it had turned over twice and how the two men escaped death is a miracle that will remain unsolved. The two men were on their way to the Pendleton round up
The car was a complete wreck and the engine is the only part of the car left which is of any value. Both men were taken to Spokane. The men consulted attorneys and it is supposed that an action will be started for personal injuries. The Buck Canyon road was closed by the contractors some time ago. Many accidents have occurred on the grade and two deaths have occurred on the road within the last few years. It has been pronounced to be one of the most dangerous parts of the Inland highway.
The committee that was appointed by the commercial club for the purpose of securing pledges for the support of the boys and girls fair reported that they had been well received by the business men of the Whitman County towns that they had visited and that financial support had been promised to aid in making the industrial fair a complete success. The members of the boys and girls club are located in nearly every section of Whitman County and it was stated that by moving the fair from one to another each year, it would be looked upon as a county affair and not as a local event.
Twelve boys took an abandoned hand car and placed it on tracks last week. By chance the station agent saw it speeding by and telegraphed to a tower man a mile away to stop them. The tower man knew that an express was just behind the boys and opened a switch throwing them and their stolen car down an embankment, then he closed the switch as the express came around the curve behind them, and little did they know they had thrown dice with death and won, thanks to the foresight of these two men on the job.
These are the real heroes at home, these obscure, unknown men, doing their duty practically three hundred and sixty-five days a year. In the news account the name of the tower man is not even mentioned, but he has twelve lives to his credit, and twelve homes have been spared from mourning, and twelve boys are given another chance to finish their careers.
75 years ago
Sept. 11, 1942
Hitler faces defeat in battle―editorial
The great war has entered the fourth, and we suspect, last year, with every indication that Hitler will find himself, before next summer's campaign, between two fronts, one in Russia and the other in the western part of Europe. The fighting that has taken place thus far in 1942 has been a succession of local victories for the Axis nations but slowly the strength of the United Nations begins to assert itself upon the fields of battle. The Red army of Russia has made the greatest single contribution to the defeat of the enemy by its intelligent strategy and courageous resistance.
It is impossible to over emphasize the value of continued Soviet resistance. For once, Hitler over reached himself when he attacked the Russians, who have stubbornly “fought our enemy” for more than fourteen months, without permitting repeated losses and heavy blows to weaken their will to win.
Many of us have been misled by the headlines and radio warnings that the fall of this city, or another, was fatal to the Soviet army. No one of these fears has been well founded. Cities and territory are relatively unimportant so long as armies fight and the Red troops refuse to accept defeat.
The Russians will be fighting when the campaign begins next spring, which is the worst news that Hitler has had since the last World War when his Ludendorff went down in abject surrender. Der Fuehrer may score some spectacular gains but his fate is sealed if the Red army maintains its fighting coherency through the coming winter.
Washington farmers were reminded this week that under war-time economy it is important to avoid using valuable time and resources on non-critical crops to the detriment of vital foodstuff production. In this respect, farmers were urged to consider replacing wheat in 1943 with other crops more urgently needed in the food for freedom campaigns. “Underseeding wheat to divert acreage to war crops this fall will be an important way for farmers to participate in the war effort," said Henry Ramsey, chairman of the AAA committee.
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